A civil trial against former US President Donald Trump on rape allegations begins in New York on Tuesday with jury selection.
Columnist and author E. Jean Carroll accuses Trump of raping her in a dressing room at the New York luxury department store Bergdorf Goodman in the 1990s. The 79-year-old publicly raised the accusation for the first time in 2019, when Trump was President. Trump dismissed the allegations as lies and stated that Carroll was not his “type”. Carroll, who for a long time answered questions from readers in a well-known column in “Elle” magazine, initially sued Trump for defamation. Last November, Carroll also sued the ex-president for the alleged rape himself, which is actually statute-barred. This was made possible by a new law in the state of New York, according to which alleged rape victims can sue alleged perpetrators for damages regardless of the statute of limitations. Carroll demands compensation.
That seems questionable. His attorney, Joseph Tacopina, said the former president would like to come to New York but wanted to spare the city the huge logistical hassle that would come with traveling to the big city and through Manhattan.
The mood in the US regarding the legal prosecution of Trump is heated. He is being investigated for a number of possible crimes. Trump himself rejects all cases as politically motivated actions. He wants to win the Republican nomination for the 2024 presidential election.
That’s a few. Most recently, Trump had to appear before the District Court in Manhattan. He is the first former US President to be criminally indicted there. Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg accused him of trying to increase his chances in the 2016 presidential election by paying hush money to two women, thereby violating election laws. Trump also faces charges of interfering with Georgia state elections. He could also soon be charged for his role in the storming of the Capitol, investigations are ongoing in both cases. There are also lawsuits for the unauthorized storage of secret documents and for financial fraud in his family holding Trump Organization.
